I have been thinking recently, of the best ways to get more people into the game, and possibly running my own promotional event at a wargame store sympathetic to the cause (no idea where or when, that can wait for another day).

Anyway, I wonder how this sounds as a plan....

Month 01 - Promotional advert at the store, generating interest, ending up with an 'army building' session on the last Sunday of the month, where all interested individuals come to the store. I provide printed army lists, and everyone selects a 1500 point army from their choice of the lists (Marines, IG, Eldar, Orks, Chaos). At this stage, all armies can only consist of infantry, LV and AV units. (Probably also organising a group buy at the store as well.)

Months 02 to 04 - Weekend sessions where all future devotees work to assemble and paint 500 points (or close to) each month, of their chosen army.

Month 05 - Paired games. Two-on-two games organised at the store, changing both allies and opponents. Last Sunday of the month, all by-now-rabid-fans select another 1500 points (or close enough), including WE, fliers, flak, space craft, etc.

Month 06 - Assemble and paint the next (roughly) 500 point blocks, consisting of only the previous infantry, LV and AVm as well as WE units, but no fliers of space craft.

Month 07 - Gaming month. Individual, 2000 point games this time, using what has been painted so far.

Month 08 and 09 - Assemble and paint the final 1000 points, at 500 points a month.

This would mark the end of the 'event', but could then easily lead on to a tournament of set of league games. At worst, it would require three other players only to make it work, and these would ideally be totally new to Epic.

Would this work, do you think?

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https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond.
https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.

A guy I met five years ago online (Studderingdave here at Taccoms) ran a Specialist Games Day and asked me to run the Epic table. I brought Orks and Space Marines, along with a few customized Necron units and nicely painted Eldar for eye candy. I showcased the game for about eight hours and found about ten players in the Allentown area. It was totally worth it.

I think any effort you put into it will yield something positive.

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It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

All the best with this CS.
I think it would help to have some painted Epic models on display from the get go. There are always people wandering over when we play a game of Epic now and I make sure to bring some extra bits and pieces so potential converts can pick some stuff up and have a look whilst watching us play the game.

There are always questions and the inevitable quote "I think I've still got some Epic stuff in a box somewhere from the old days...".

We're building up to this year's campaign (seems to be the main promotional event here) and tournament here in Perth. The campaign will run for 4 weeks and start on June 10th. The 1 day tournament will be on July 8th. Last year we had 15 players in the campiagn (up from 8 the year before), 9 of which were new to the game. We had 10 players at the tournament (up from 6 the year before). I'm very fortunate to have a local game club that is very supportive and generous with their resources. All this in a smallish city (Perth, Western Australia). I share this to this to show that Epic can grow, even in a small market place (not to big note myself).

We've already got 11 signed up for this year's campaign and we're seeing practise games being played about the place. It's great to see games being organised without me having to be involved. Very encouraging.

Good onya CS for putting the effort in!

Cheers,
Steve.

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Thanks for your thoughts, guys. I agree that getting some terrain and some samples painted up in that first month, while I am trying to gather interest, would be a good move and get people interested.

I should say, I have not even started this though. I am just thinking about a few plans for when/if I move house soon.

Cheers.

_________________
https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond.
https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.

Quite honestly, if you have two painted armies and some half decent terrain, you are set. The models are very cool. If you can get your hands on some customized pieces (like Necron for instance ) that will be an instantaneous acknowledgement by the folks seeing your work that the game is supported enough to not worry about new models from GW.

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

You may be interested to know that mintroll has run a few basic intro games at GW itself recently, in Cambridge. Your plans sound altogether more grandiose and your local GW might not be keen, but I thought I'd mention it.

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Thanks, but I am not planning on running this at a GW store.

_________________
https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond.
https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.

The suggestion I'd make is that during those first few advertising/building months, you show up at regularly scheduled intervals with two painted armies and host games between all interested parties. Do your best to make these games spectator events. You may already be planning to do this, but I wasn't sure from your OP.

It would be best if you had several armies to rotate in a cycle from week to week, but depending upon your collection that may be completely out of the question. I don't think it's strictly necessary, as I find armies in Epic have infinite replay value, it would just be nice to show off Epic's variety and help people find an army that calls to them.

Another thing I personally would encourage when people start getting their miniatures is to encourage them to start playing at weekly gatherings soonest, even before everything is all painted. Some view bare metal on the board as blasphemy, but the sooner you get people feeling like they are having fun with *their* army the better results you'll get. It may also spare some heartache as people won't spend hours painting figures that don't work for them, and instead encourage them to buy and paint more miniatures that they'll feel happy about.

Finally, if it's within your means, keep bringing a pool of "community" miniatures to your game events. This lets your prospective addicts^H^H^H gamers try out different things they may not have purchased yet, and provides anyone wandering by with an army if they see you and wonder, "what's this game?"

I think Epic plays and shows off well to newbies when you start with the basics of the game. Good luck!

Thanks for your comments. You make some excellent points. My collection is.... scattered and incohesive, but that is also have the goal of this.

_________________
https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond.
https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.

I'd be interested in epic meetings, but obviously limited by location/life/work.

I've yet to get an old old epic gamer back into it, but i'm trying. So if i can't i'd like other options. Plus I find it hard to paint and model epic stuff, if it's not getting any use.

As for locations, I live near Cannock, Staffordshire.
Work in Hinckley Leicestershire (in design at Triumph Motorbikes - one of my dream jobs)

so these two locations are best for me to find opponents.